The unexpected and gripping news of the death of the famous British royal, Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales, caught the world unaware on 31st August 1997. This was when I knew there was a royal called Diana Spencer. I followed the news and devoured the papers to know why a woman that popular and well protected would die.
It is not news that the royal family grabs the public's attention and there have been stories about their struggles with balancing their public and private lives. How the public views them matters and takes precedence over anything else.
All these and more of the troubles of a royal's life were captured in the 2021 biography and psychological drama titled Spencer (2021). This film is written by Steven Knight and directed by Pablo Larraín. It focused on Princess Diana, the enigmatic and beautiful woman believed to be the most beloved royal of our times.
*[Official Trailer from YouTube](https://youtu.be/Lagauhb5GyY)*Synopsis
Spencer (2021) encapsulates the drama surrounding Princess Diana's decision to end her marriage to Prince Charles and the efforts she made to protect her sons from the rigid and conservative lifestyle of the British royal family.
The film begins with soldiers bringing in the food supply in big boxes for the kitchen staff while Diana, played by Kristen Stewart, is seen driving aimlessly around only to stop at an eatery, walk into the shop and ask the dumbfounded folks, "where am I?"
Diana finds her way to the Queen's Sandringham Estate in Norfolk for the Christmas holidays. All through her stay at the estate, she expresses her distaste for the house rules which began with checking her weight upon entering the estate and ensuring she added more before leaving at the end of the holiday.
In a bid to ease the strain on her marriage due to Prince Charles' affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, Diana finds a book on Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII. She took solace in the book and formed a companionship with Anne Boleyn's ghost. Diana also confided in her maid, Maggie.
The royal family is unhappy about her 'rebellious' behaviour and tries to restrain her by preventing her visit to her childhood home which proved unsuccessful. Did Diana make it safely out of Sandringham estate after the holiday? How did the Queen view Diana's attitudes and deliberate flouts of the royal rules?
Review
Just so viewers are not caught up in the psychological drama and think it's a true account, the director did great starting the film with a statement — "A fable from a true tragedy." This means most of the story is more fiction than fact. The scenes and acting are moving such that a person may believe that was the real account.
One of the reasons I watched this film is my love for psychological dramas and the director outstandingly thrilled viewers in this respect. He fluidly moved between the real world and the imagined/dream sequences and it was not confusing. The estate is displayed as haunted by the ghost of Anne Boleyn and every person appears stern in a season that is supposed to be joyful.
I also enjoyed how the director and actors pulled viewers into the mind of Diana, portraying how stifling and suffocating it is to be a royal, to accede to the demands of the society on her even though she wishes for a free life.
I applaud Kristen Stewart's acting. She remarkably portrays Princess Diana from the hair colouring, the short bob haircut to her body movements and gestures. But I am not so sure about her accent. It appears strained especially with the whispers and it was quite an effort keeping up with her dialogues.
Overall, I enjoyed this film but I would not wish to exchange lives with Diana, real or fiction, because her life was fully lived in a cage. The ending of the film could easily move viewers to tears.
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